Staying the Course: Sustaining Improvement in Urban Schools

October 2015

In honor of the 10th anniversary of EdVestors' School on the Move Prize, the Rennie Center looked back at 10 years of prize winners and finalists. This report takes a closer look at what happened to these rapidly improving schools over time – what factors contributed to sustained or continued improvement, and what impeded their progress.

Report Year

2015

Documents

Blog

Rethinking Grading

March 28, 2024

Schools have assessed student learning and growth with essentially the same grading system for more than a century. Since this system was created, the field has learned so much more about the way students learn, the systemic inequities embedded in the design of traditional grading and assessment, and what type of learning leads to success in life. Grading should be aligned with what we know about the learning process, child and adolescent development, and the demands of career, college, and community life. But traditional grading is so deeply ingrained in our culture, that making changes to this system can seem like an insurmountable task. That’s why we partnered with DESE and reDesign to support five unique high schools as they interrogate their traditional grading practices and make shifts toward new systems that better measure student learning and growth.